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Book: 11/50 Started: 27/03/2020 Finished: 01/04/2020 Rating: 4/5 Warning: May contain spoilers! 

One of the few common loves I share with my mother, Bridget Jones’ Diary evokes nostalgia and truly is a sign of it’s time. 

Bridget Jones, everyone’s favourite singleton wants nothing more than to develop inner-poise, lose weight and finally have a functional love life. Bridget’s journey for self-improvement is a hilariously messy and meaningful rollercoaster with loose elements of Pride and Prejudice mixed amongst the constant swearing and calorie counting. 

I haven’t much to say, except that yes - it exactly reflects the time it’s from: when calorie counting was all the rage, VCR’s were a thing and when women’s existence was completely based around attracting the male species. Oh, and when Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus was literally the bible. I guess coming from a different generation, I found these aspects difficult to digest, support and get behind but nevertheless I really just had to remind myself that the novel is a little outdated in this generation. I still really enjoyed it; it was far fleshier than the movie, and I had no idea how much I’d actually missed out on! 

Criticisms of Fielding’s grammar and use of slang are misplaced; this is a diary - that’s exactly how it should be! Fielding’s ability to make this create a story in an easy reading diary format is skillful and should definitely be praised.

All in all, a hilarious and easy read that is relatable and fun. Many of the outdated beliefs and behaviours did bother me, but Bridget Jones holds a personal place in my heart anyway and I really enjoyed it anyway. Fielding is skilled with her comedic writing and the ability to make a novel that can be read in one sitting. 4/5 because of how easily I was able to read and enjoy it.

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Book: 10/50 Started: 18/03/2020 Finished: 26/03/2020 Rating: 5/5 Warning: May contain spoilers! 

Hypnotic, dark and mesmerizing, The Girls is a really impressive debut novel. Another book found through my long trawls on Goodreads, I was absolutely ecstatic when I came across it whilst browsing in the library. 

Summer of 1969, and Evie Boyd is a lonely teenager with nothing to do. She becomes transfixed by a group of girls, and in particular, a girl named Suzanne with whom she falls in love with (on the borderline of obsession). With Evie’s middle-class life becoming increasingly isolating and difficult, she finds herself sucked into a completely different world of drugs, sex and exploitation disguised as acceptance, led by the charismatic cult leader Russell. Based very loosely off of the Charles Manson crime family, The Girls explores teenage rebellion, self-expression, morality and self-discovery that borders on the verge of self-destruction. 

After a difficult start in the beginning with present Evie and the heavy and fancy wording, it quickly became a real page turner for me. Cline perfectly encapsulates the female psyche and female insecurity; the want and need to be accepted. The book is set between the present day with Evie as a middle-aged woman, and at age fourteen when Evie became involved with the infamous cult. So, in some ways I consider this book a very deep character study of Evie, as we follow her development and how the events (or non-events) of her past has placed her in the unfulfilling life she has today. I liked that despite being based off of the Manson cult, it wasn’t just about the Manson cult - there was so much more to it. I’d expected Evie’s obsession to be with Russell, rather than it being a story of her first lesbian love. From the beginning we know the violent ending is imminent, though the journey to get there felt a little long at times. 

Evie’s internal debate over whether she would’ve been a perpetrator in the attack and about her own moral goodness was thought-provoking and an interesting discussion - I always love a twisted protagonist. Evie’s wonder over if she’d had a more exciting life having been part of the murders is an interesting spin on a cult survivor’s story - I was left thinking about this novel for days. 

Cline is a superbly skilled writer with a beautiful style and supreme scene setting skills, though at times her style could be a little too difficult to get through. A combination of coming-of-age, deep character exploration and a trip into the female mind, she tells one hell of a story.

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Book: 9/50 Started: 09/03/2020 Finished: 17/03/2020 Rating: 4/5 Warning: May contain spoilers! 

A gender bent retelling of Pride and Prejudice featuring an Indian immigrant family? Count me in! I was super excited to start reading this as soon as I spotted it in the library, however I feel that I must put it out there: I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice (I know the premise and message of the story), and I don’t know too much about Bollywood.

Meet Trisha, a renowned neurosurgeon from the royal Indian Raje family - an influential family in their new home, California. And meet DJ Caine, an Anglo-Indian dreamboat and chef, complete with a London accent. And they hate each other. Trisha has been banished from her family over a mistake she made at 17 that hurt the family deeply, still threatening her brother’s political aspirations today. DJ had a rough upbringing peppered with parental death, homelessness and is now fighting to keep the only family he has left alive - his sister Emma, who has an inoperable brain tumour. Their paths cross by several unusual circumstances, and as much as they try to run away from each other they end up falling HARD for each other.

I loved the book. I love stories that put diaspora, the immigrant experience and POC main characters in the forefront, which is something I find extremely important in terms of representation. The book was vibrant, bold and full charming memories and mouthwatering descriptions of food (cough cough, Sweetbitter). Although Trisha is extremely socially awkward to the point where it makes you cringe, I found her absolutely loveable and adorable. I loved the intricate backstories and detail that went into every character; everyone felt well-thought out and balanced, and I loved that not everyone’s relationships with each other were neccessarily though Trisha. Dev does well in communicating DJ’s traumatic upbringing and how that still affects him today, although sometimes he felt TOO angry. I lastly loved having a super-villain like Julia Wickham (we all love to hate something!). 

The book does touch on a lot of heavy subjects, and sometimes it’s a lot to take in; things such as miscarriages, death, loss and rape are key plot devices. For a romance novel, the stakes are intensely high and everything feels a lot more exaggerated and dramatic. Other themes such as racial profiling, privilege and classicism are touched on, and I found it particularly interesting in Dev’s exploration of racial profiling of DJ and Trisha: one person who’s spent his entire life on the receiving end of it, and another who has such immense privilege to not understand the danger of it.  

All being said, I loved the book was a whole and would love to read more of the Raje series. Despite the book being a little too heavy and exaggerated at times, I found that the narration of the book was cheery enough to carry me through. Dev’s writing style is beautiful and detailed, although sometimes I got lost within it. A little too long and stretched out for my liking, but it does translate to a well-rounded and amazing story.

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Book: 8/50 Started: 01/03/20 Finished: 08/03/20 Rating: 3/5 Warning: may contain spoilers!

Where do I start? I loved and hated this book at the same time. Intrigued by the premise, name and beautiful descriptions of food in the beginning, this book felt promising. I felt fulfilled, but let down at the same time. 

We meet Tess, a girl leaving her insignificant life behind in Ohio to start a new journey in New York, with absolutely no plan and no money to her name. She manages to get a job as a backwaiter in a prestigious restaurant, where she’s drawn into the demanding and addictive world of being a server, drugs and good food. The plot of this story largely circles around Tess’ coming-of-age and her painfully slow development of her relationship with the bad boy, bartender Jake.  

The premise and beginning chapter were really promising, but then I was struggling to get through the rest of the book. I loved the beautiful descriptions of the flavours which was what grabbed my attention, and I have to say that Danler really has a beautiful writing style. I really enjoyed that it was non-linear and poetic, however sometimes Danler’s writing was too heavy and coded, so it got more laborious to read with things getting lost in poetic translation. I kept having to go back and re-read passages several times, and it felt like there were several meanings for one sentence, and not in a good way. And the descriptions of food suddenly just disappeared after chapter one. 

Tess herself, I could not stand. She was plain, boring and totally naive - not in an adorable way. Where I felt like Danler was trying to make a dreamy head-in-the-clouds sort of character, I felt instead that Tess was more of a lost puppy who lived purely off of validation from others. I felt like it indulged in the concept of white mediocrity and entitlement - Tess just sort of bounds off to New York with no plan or money, expecting to make her dreams come true (hell, I plan more than she did just for staying over at someone’s place). She gets a job at a prestigious restaurant without really trying - which I guess was the catch about this mysterious restaurant but also unrealistic if you’re not white and pretty. However, I could appreciate Tess’ growth within the book, making her into sort of an anti-hero by the end when she grows into her nickname, Baby Monster. I liked that she could also accept defeat, something that would’ve crushed her in the beginning. I felt Jake was the paint-by-numbers representation of a bad boy - tattoos, dickhead-ish behaviour and mysterious - yawn, yawn. I didn’t like the way he treated Tess, and how she just let him - but I guess that this was her time to learn. 

I guess I loved the idea of the book; but the execution wasn’t great. I was over the moon that someone had perfectly encapsulated just how gruelling and difficult working in restaurants is; that was one thing Danler did right. The work hard, play hard culture epitomises just how cut-throat restaurants can be behind the scenes; it brought back a lot of fond and difficult memories of my three years in the restaurant scene. A promising start, but the rest just didn’t carry through.

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Book: 7/50 Started: 14/02/20 Finished: 29/02/20 Rating: 5/5 Warning: may contain spoilers!

Part chick-lit, part summer romance novel, part designer fashion blog and part Singapore travel diary, Crazy Rich Asians was everything I wanted and more. Being Asian and moving to Singapore were two things that made me excited reading the book, and also because I saw the movie adaptation which was honestly just amazing. I loved the book even more than the movie, but I felt that each were great in their own way. 

Super rich Singaporean Nick Young decides to take his ABC girlfriend Rachel Chu, back to Singapore for the summer for the hottest event of the year: his best friend, Colin Khoo’s wedding. Unbeknownst to Rachel, Nick is one of Asia’s most eligible bachelors, standing to inherit and one day run, one of the biggest development companies in the world. Will Rachel survive literally being dropped into the glitzy, glamourous and backstabbing world of crazy rich Asians? 

First off, I loved that the book started with a family tree - I had to refer to this during the entire novel. I also loved the citations and references during the book, which were humourous in their observations and also saved me from having to google something every other page, unlike Sarong Party Girls. Going into the novel having read the film, I vaguely knew what to expect in terms of plotline; I came to appreciate just how much fleshier and detailed a novel is in comparison to its movie counterpart. I liked that the story wasn’t as Rachel and Nick heavy as I expected, and that we were able to delve into the lives of the secondary film characters, such as Astrid, Edison, Eleanor and Peik Lin. I didn’t expect the characters to have as much limelight in the books, coming from the movie. Breaking the bookworm’s rule of never watch the movie before reading the book! But I actually felt it helped since I had such a hard time keeping track of people and putting names to faces. 

The novel was the right amount of sexy, political, historical and comedic and as a whole, it felt well-rounded and meticulously thought out. I loved the drama, which ranged from superficial rich people problems to genuinely heartbreaking and dark. Again, I always love novels that put POC in the forefront, and I also felt that Crazy Rich Asians allowed Westerners (‘the mainstream’) understand the nuanced politics and history that affects Asians today, with an emphasis on the differences of mainland Chinese and overseas Chinese (which in today’s Western societies, are considered the same thing). I felt that Kwan also challenged our eurocentric standards and the belief that the crazy rich are only from the west. I love that I learnt so much from this novel, from Singlish, Singapore’s culture, history, the Asian jetset lifestyle and rich people problems. 

Kwan is able to weave heavy subjects and intense cultural expectations into a highly entertaining and sexy satirical novel. I would love to read the rest of the trilogy sometime soon! 

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Book: 6/50 Started: 07/02/2020 Finished: 14/02/2020 Rating: 5/5 Warning: May contain spoilers!

Women behaving badly is something I love in books, and Gillian Flynn hits this on the head exactly. Having read Gone Girl first (of course), I was in search of something just as intense and gripping as Flynn’s international success. Sharp Objects exceeded all my expectations.

Set in the middle of nowhere in Missouri, Chicago reporter Camille Preaker is sent back to her hometown to report on a serial killer targeting pre-teen girls. Fresh out of a psychiatric facility, a somewhat unstable and alcoholic Camille must face what she left behind in Wind Gap: her strained relationship with her controlling and hypochondriac mother; the grief of her dead sister, who died when Camille was only thirteen; uncovering the mystery around her estranged pre-teen half sister; and a town where it seems that sexual violence is embedded within the community. As the story goes on, we learn of the childhood abuse and violence that leads Camille to her obsession carving words in her skin - and that the murders of these girls seem to hit closer to home than she’d like it to. 

First of all, I must say that Flynn’s writing style was probably the biggest highlight for me. Halfway through reading the book, I was appreciating that writing is well and truly a gift - and I hope to write at Flynn’s level one day. Camille’s descriptions, observations and memories are all visceral, disturbing and beautifully written at the same time. The novel flows well, and I felt like I read it in no time - a little dragging perhaps at some points as it feels like the super massive plot twist was really at the very end. I liked that in this murder mystery, instead of endless red herrings and dead ends, we were forced to slowly uncover the truth behind the murders at the same time as Camille. Sometimes the book made me feel physically ill - but I really put that down to the author’s skill and immersive writing. 

Aside from the main plotline of the murders, the other themes explored were also truly troubling. Self harm, mental health, abuse, sexual assault, alcoholism, munchausen by proxy and sexualisation of pre-teen girls (I see this a lot in American books?) are just some of the main topics in the novel. Women in Wind Gap are part of a vicious cycle of abuse, where they are victims of the town’s  sexual violence, who seem to accept it and allow it to happen to other women. Something that deeply troubled me and that seems to be recurring in American novels set in middle of nowhere towns in the middle states, is the normalised rape culture and sexualisation of young girls - it always leads me to ask, does this really happen down there? 

I really, truly love Gillian Flynn’s ability to challenge (and pull off!) the stereotypes against women - women are no longer damsels in distress, but perhaps are more dangerous than the men around them. Deeply disturbing and depraved, this book has made its way as one of my favourites.

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Book: 5/50 Started: 29/01/2020 Finished: 06/02/2020 Rating: 5/5 Warning: may contain spoilers!

I came across this book casually in the library, I was drawn to it by the name and blurb. This year has certainly been the year of reading psychological thrillers written by women, and I don’t intend to stop. Following a disappointment by The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, I was determined to find a female authored thriller that would satisfy me. And Don’t Turn Around did. 

Set in Liverpool, the book is centred around a family who are still reeling from the suicide of the beloved Meg, ten years on. Cousin Jen and mother Ruth, have set up the Lean On Me helpline which supports women navigating abusive relationships. Set between first person perspectives of Ruth and Jen, their pain is still fresh and the answers surrounding Meg’s death haven’t stopped. The prologue starts with a suspenseful confrontation between Jen and Lewis, the abusive boyfriend who ultimately led Meg to her death, ensuring that we understand the danger that this man possesses (or think he does). In comes Ellie, a woman phoning the helpline with secrets surrounding Meg’s death that only Meg or Lewis would’ve known, leading us to believe that Lewis is back at it again… Or is he? 

I felt that the novel initially had a pretty slow pace, with the real drama and twists revealed right at the very end. That being said, there were constant clues and red herrings being dropped throughout allowing the reader to piece together the story as the characters did. Other reviewers said they guessed it halfway through, I actually didn’t find the plot as predictable as others have said. Or maybe I just haven’t read as many thrillers. For one - I definitely felt that things with Lewis weren’t as black and white and as it was a thriller, I expected the whole ‘things aren’t as they seem’. 

Brooke handles the aftermath of suicide in a poignant and sensitive without glorifying it, which I was worried about (ahem, 13 Reasons Why). I loved the relationships between Jen and Charlie, as well as Jen and Ruth, and I felt that all the characters were reasonably complex in their own right. The setting in Liverpool was something I enjoyed as someone who grew up in the U.K., as I realized I’ve barely read any books recently set in my home country, with Harry Potter being the only books that come to mind - but this is just the homesickness in me talking. I really liked Brooke’s writing as I found it clear and concise and I didn’t feel lost at all in the increasingly complicated plotline. The ending felt cathartic, making me realize how engaged I was with the story, as I felt the emotional release with the characters during this moment. I’m glad Meg was finally understood. 

Brooke handles a sensitive and emotional topic in a realistic and healthy way. The book was tough at times, but really compelling and I really truly enjoyed it. Will definitely be seeking more by this author, as this book was really exciting and I loved every second of it. 

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Book: 4/50 Started: 16/01/2020 Finished: 27/01/2020 Rating: 4/5 Warning: May contain spoilers!

Whilst trawling the library for something to read (all the books on my list are taken out!), I was captivated by Suicide Club’s neon cover and the title itself. Since moving to Singapore, I’m trying to seek out more books by Singaporean authors. 

The book is set in near-future New York, where immortality is possible and people are living for hundreds of years - if they deserve it. In a health-obsessed society, all things bad for your health, and suicide, is illegal. Lea Kirino has it all - a successful career, an amazing apartment and the prospect of living forever (only if you deserve it, though). A chance encounter with her estranged father, a criminal who’s part of the ‘Suicide Club’, a group of people who want to live their life how they want, and die on their own terms. The narrative is split between Lea and Swedish immigrant Anja, a talented musician struggling to cope with her mother’s slow and painful death. 

I found the world that Heng created to be impressive and ambitious, however the execution didn’t live up to expectations. I still find Heng to be a really talented writer - her world was immersive and impressive, and she was able to seamlessly tie in the world’s terminology and ideals without too much confusion. The near-future New York is perhaps a satirical take on today’s society, where we live in a world of Instagram fitness influencers and extreme health fads and diets. I found Lea herself to be really underdeveloped as a character, but I really enjoyed Lea’s sinister backstory. Heng’s writing throughout is visceral and bold, and the book itself was really easy to read. Even though Anja was a secondary character she had way more depth than Lea, and was far more likeable. I liked the odd friendship formed between two people of different walks of life, embracing primal behaviours in a constrained society. The reconciliation and growing relationship between Lea and her father was truly heart-warming and beautiful, and I loved watching it grow. 

POC characters in the front and centre of a novel are always important to me, which gives this book bonus points. Like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, having an Asian protagonist is normal and them being a POC isn’t part of the plot, in a setting where usually these protagonists would be defaulted to white (which is how we’ll eventually normalize having more POC as main characters, when people realize this doesn’t make characters any less relatable). 

All in all, despite the execution not being as good as it could’ve been, I’m giving this book 4 stars for the impressive world and imagination put into this. I loved the characters and relationships between them, and the darker themes explored in a glossy and perfect world. I think Heng is a really promising author and I would be happy to read more of her work. 

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Book: 3/50 Started: 12/01/2020 Finished: 16/01/2020 Rating: 1/5 Warning: May contain spoilers! 

My, my, my. I was thoroughly disappointed - and believe me, I really do try to see the good in everything, but this book really just drained me. I found this book when trawling through goodreads for something similar to Gone Girl, and my all-time favourite, Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, and this came up on a list of psychological thrillers by female authors. Looked promising. I hunted it down in the library and consumed the book in 4 days, more for the want of getting it over, than wanting to know what happened. 

The book is set between before and after; after is what we can only assume to be after they rescue Mia, since we discover she’s alive after the ordeal very early in the book. It’s also split between the first person perspectives of Colin the kidnapper, Eve the mother and Gabe the detective working on Mia’s disappearance. I did enjoy and find it interesting that we never hear from Mia until the very end in the epilogue. 

I found every single character to be like those paint-by-numbers kits, where yes, you’re making art but it is in no way original at all. Every character was based on stereotypes and were so obvious - Colin, disgruntled and quiet kidnapper, who of course had a hard childhood. Eve, middle-aged housewife trapped in a loveless marriage, who of course has an affair. And Detective Gabe was literally the cut and paste of every single detective ever written. Mia was the unruly and headstrong, do-gooder type daughter who gets kidnapped, who is the poster-child for missing white woman syndrome, as she comes from a very privileged family. 

Things I liked: The suspense in unravelling of what was so bad that happened to Mia that she has amnesia onset from the trauma, was good but at times repetitive. I liked Eve as a character and enjoyed exploring her emotions in the aftermath of Mia’s disappearance. Although I think the plot twist wasn’t very artfully dropped in the story, I have to admit that it did make the book redeem itself when I was struggling to even like one thing of it. It was a big bomb to drop and it did pretty much change everything, but I wish that we were breadcrumbed to this conclusion and Mia’s motive rather than Kubica dropping it and ending the novel instantly. 

The Stockholm syndrome was obvious, and pretty eye roll worthy when it finally happened. I felt like the interactions between Mia and Colin were just… boring. The bomb at the end of the novel only led to more questions - why didn’t Mia say something when Colin was kidnapping her? Why did she feel like kidnapping and extortion were necessary to punish her father? And one thing that irked me the most out of it all, was the overt racism throughout the entire book. The comments on neighbourhoods being safe based on their minority population, and just the entire characterisation of Dalmar. In the description of Dalmar, Kubica worked so hard to make a point that yes, he was black, with lines like “His African enunciation” and skin like tyres or something. It’s pretty obvious that Kubica must come from a white privileged background for this to be okay - it just bothered me, if Kubica was just characterising based on stereotypes, then the bad guy just had to be black. 

All in all, this book really bothered me, and I wouldn’t recommend it. 

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The Fan Fiction Formula Theory

Writing fan fiction was how I originally discovered my passion and skill at creative writing. Back in a simpler time of being thirteen years old, writing fan fiction was my solace and filled hours and hours of loneliness. I eventually kicked the habit when I grew out of my obsessions for all things One Direction and deleted my entire Wattpad account, but I must still pay homage to the very reason I started writing. 

When I say I used to write fan fiction, people are always confused as to how you can write fanfiction about something that doesn’t have its own set universe, but let me tell you - anything is possible in the world of fan fiction. Whilst I did write fan fiction of The Hunger Games and Harry Potter variety, my sole focus was on One Direction and numerous other curly haired, baby faced boy bands. My boy band fan fictions were also my most successful, scooping anything from 100 to 1,000 readers and constant pleads for updates, so I know what I’m talking about. 

My Fan Fiction Formula is basically just common tropes that are often seen in celebrity fan fiction, that I wanted to just break down and explain properly in a post as I keep seeing it in new YA and wanted to make a point of it. 

X = Guy 

Y = Girl 

Celebrity fanfiction often goes (but is not limited to) something along the lines of this: normal girl meets celebrity guy/highly coveted after guy, and she often does not *try* get him, like *most* girls try to. Fanfiction girls often fall into that *I’m not like other girls* anti-feminism, are usually a natural beauty who doesn’t try or loves the same things as X - whatever it is, she is super irresistible to X. X wants Y for XXX reasons, usually pertaining that Y is the one in a million (which is the reason why we read fanfiction like this, because we enjoy the fantasy that we’d be Harry Styles’ one in a million). 

X is usually the super hot super celebrity, or sometimes X can just be someone that you might idolise in your everyday life: your older brother’s best friend or a hot older guy at school. Whatever the fame level, there is usually some kind of competition to have and to hold X, which Y does not contest in but somehow wins (or sometimes, she does take part). 

As I said before, Y is usually naturally beautiful (supermodel pretty, face claims for characters usually are some form of Instagram model or in my time, tumblr models). Y is sweet and cute, or can be wild and the tomboy type, usually is quite eccentric and memorable and gets herself into situations that may cause embarrassment, or catch X’s attention. A problematic aspect of fanfiction I often find is that it glorifies and romanticizes things like abuse, rape and mental illness, with X coming to Y’s saviours from these things. It can range from anything from him loving you despite your depression, to him trying to save you from your abusive father (I’ve read it all), but it’s the problematic and uncomfortable notion that X will save you. Either that, or something tragic has/will happen to you, and he is there to comfort you; family death is usually a favourite. I find that fanfiction usually promotes damsel in modern-day distress type of situations, and since it’s often written by younger people, the glorification of the gory details are usually insensitive since it’s a topic that only gets heavier when you get older. 

I’d like to add one more thing: Y can sometimes get into this situation where they come face-to-face with X due to circumstances beyond their control: X is Y’s brother’s friend; X and Y end up in the same college dorm; X and Y go to the same school. This differs from the other situation which could be completely random; X sees Y randomly at a gig; X and Y bump into each other and she’s memorable enough to chase down, and so on. The possibilities of fanfiction are endless, but these are common tropes I recognise originally from fanfiction that are leaping over into YA, I guess as fanfiction writers grow up and end up getting published. 

Examples of Books/Movies that use Fan Fiction Formula: 

The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles (this one was where I first recognised the tropes outside of reading fan fiction, this one ticked pretty much every fanfiction formula box)

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

After by Anna Todd (but that literally was a Harry Styles fan fiction) 

I’ll update the list more if I come across them!

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Book: 2/50 Started: 06/01/2020 Finished: 12/01/2020 Rating: 3/5  Warning: May contain spoilers!

When I first discovered goodreads at around age 15, I spent hours and hours window shopping the books I’d love to read, and The Royal We was one of them. Fast forward around five years, I serendipitously stumbled across it in the library, and figured I’d give it a go. It’s a pretty long read at 400 pages with the bonus chapter that was included, but I managed to get through it within a week.

This book employs the use of what I like to call ‘The Fan Fiction Formula’ (which you can read in detail here). Take one, perfectly normal and unassuming girl next door, who somehow ends up in a situation where she comes face-to-face with a very highly coveted celebrity (and without trying to), they fall in love with each other. Perhaps it’s because many reviewers refer to this as Will and Kate fanfiction, or perhaps it’s because it’s written from an American standpoint - who all seem to really love and adore the Royals (in the U.K., the majority of us don’t give a toss about them).

The story is told over 5 parts, starting in Oxford where they meet as American Bex Porter decides to do her year abroad, and ends up in the same dorms as Prince Nick (Prince Wills, of course). Along the five parts we follow Bex on her journey of living and working in London, becoming an adult and keeping her exciting but secretive relationship with Nick, all the way until stuff really gets serious and we find ourselves at the inevitable royal wedding. Mix that with conflicting feelings for womanizer brother Prince Freddie (Prince Harry) and Bex battling against her twin sister Lacey, who’s dying to be in the situation that Bex somehow just… stumbled into; it does actually make for a pretty interesting read.

Bex ‘Rebecca’ Porter is just your normal, upper-middle class American girl, hailing all the way from the state of Iowa, who’s been living in the shadow of her preppy and popular twin, Lacey. As the story goes on, we see their twin dynamic flip, Bex living the life that Lacey tries so hard to chase. Princes Nick and Freddie are pretty much the characterised versions of William and Harry, blanks filled in nicely, albeit sometimes stereotypically by Heather and Jessica. The Royal We also goes to show that good supporting characters can make or break the story: Gaz, Cilla, Clive, Joss and Bea were all heartwarming and supportive, even when it felt that sometimes their lives purely revolved around Nick and Bex drama. The supporting characters sometimes were the only thing keeping my attention during long pages of never-ending Nex drama (though, I felt that there were a lot of characters to take in, especially in the beginning; I spent half of part 1 not realising Bea and Lady Bollocks were the same person).

The story isn’t just a fetishization of the royal life, but it is equally a coming-of-age story. We’re with Bex for nearly 10 years; from her uni days all the way until she’s getting married. And for the most part, she was just trying to figure out her life and handle a really harsh tragedy, with the additional complication of the tabloid press, life in the limelight and dating the most eligible bachelor of eligible bachelors. Bex’s ultimate conflict with getting married to Nick wasn’t that she didn’t love him; if anything she loved him too much - but she didn’t want to lose who she was (which I had a hard time understanding, since I didn’t have mounds of personality). Her confused romance with Freddie made my eyes roll a little, but I also liked that Bex wasn’t just confined to Nick as lover - her existence did extend to outside of Nick, after all, remember Clive?

Things that irked me: the book was really Americanised - I cringed hard at the use of ‘candy bar wrapper’ in the bonus Freddie chapter (any Brit knows it’s sweet wrapper). Keg stands are an alien and American concept in the U.K., it’s more of a corner shop K-cider and Ring of Fire drinking games situation (or maybe I’m wrong, maybe that’s what rich kids at Oxford do), and many things were just based stereotypes of England. But it’s okay. I don’t think I’m necessarily the target audience for this story; I went into this story as a person who signed a petition to abolish the monarchy, and sees Oxford University as elitist and privileged rather than like Hogwarts. So maybe it’s not for me.

Though the book dragged on for 100 pages too long, and I thought the bonus chapter was unnecessary, I actually enjoyed reading the book as a part of mindless fun, and to be whisked away on celebrity club nights and days at the royal ascot. Chick-lit and YA romance are my guilty pleasures, and The Royal We satisfied that spot exactly for me.  

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Book: 1/50 Started: 01/01/2020 Finished: 05/01/2020 Rating: 5/5 Warning: may contain spoilers!

I came across this book from an interview with Cheryl by galdem.com, an online and print magazine by and for women of colour and non-binary. It was good timing, considering it was my first month in Singapore and I found the interview really interesting. For the first time in a long time, I was actually really excited for a book. I finally got round to ordering it around a month ago, and devoured it in literally 5 days.

Jazzy and her friends hatch a plan to lock down ang moh (white expat) husbands, pop out the Chanel of all babies (mixed white and Singaporean), all before the end of the month, as the daunting prospect of her 27th birthday looms nearer. We follow Jazzy as she parties in the most damn happening clubs in Singapore, work alongside her as Albert’s assistant at The New Times, and share her homely HDB flat in Tiong Bahru with her mum and dad. During these seemingly exotic backdrops, Jazzy grapples with the betrayal of her best friend Sher, whom Jazzy refuses to speak to since she married her ‘smelly ah beng’ boyfriend - something that Jazzy deems unforgivable. The month long journey of Sarong Party Girls is shocking, sexy and glamourous, ultimately ending with Jazzy’s wake-up call and realization that she really, really doesn’t need an ang moh husband to make something of herself. She is so much more than that.

Jazzy is an experienced party girl with ten years of picking up, flirting and partying with wealthy, white expat men. She’s biting and hilariously honest, her narration told in the colourful language of Singlish, peppered with quick anecdotes and honest observations. Jazzy’s materialism is easy to hate, but you can’t help to love her anyway - the poignant stories and anecdotes help you understand how she became the woman she is today. Underneath her shallow exterior, she has a big heart and is really just afraid of being hurt. Pair her with her fabulous girlfriends Imo, Sher and Fann, a combination of endearing and clueless, whose partying excursions are paid for by their extremely rich and adulterous married friend, Louis.

It’s all fun and games for the first half until… It isn’t. And that’s what made this book so eye-opening. Internalized sexism, misogyny, Singapore’s colonial hangover and sexual exploitation are all explored in the book, though on the next page over you’ll probably be laughing. Cheryl casts a light on a side of Singapore that the world otherwise wouldn’t see. I had fun exploring it and through Jazzy I was able to dispel the mystery around KTV bars and Siam Du’s and to experience clubbing with people who are able to afford the VIP tables (it’s not cheap!).

The use of Singlish was probably the highlight for me - after moving to Singapore it’s something you hear everywhere without really realising it. The language has tons of character and charm, and after a few times looking up terms I wasn’t familiar with, I began to understand it. It’s understandable even without, since Jazzy’s voice is so clear you can pretty much fill in the blanks yourself anyway. The book made me appreciate just how much one’s native tongue completely changes how a story is told. I’m privileged to have my mother tongue be English, and it never occurred to me before that language affects just how well a character’s voice is conveyed. It would’ve been weird if Jazzy spoke in queen’s English, and probably would’ve felt a lot less authentic, too.

With all that’s been said, it’s worth noting that Cheryl says in other interviews that Sarong Party Girls is a satirical look at Singapore. The book is fun, sexy and shocking, everything you’d want for a quick beach read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and my only complaint would be, is that the book ended where the real story started - I hope that Cheryl will write a sequel.